my little ghouls!

i did this last year on a website that has fun things you can do to your pictures for Halloween. last year the kids had fun with it but were not as bold as this year. if you click HERE you can see the pictures we did last year. this year the boys really got into putting the zombie paint on and all the crazy scars and sores. I have to admit they look pretty gross but they think they are fun. the boys did most of briea's. she just kept pointing to the computer and saying "yuck"! it was pretty cute. so here they are...my little Halloween monsters.

Cullan

Kael

Briea

yes that is underwear on her head. whenever i fold laundry briea finds all kinds of clothes and likes to wear them on her head.

if you think that your kids might enjoy it, or you might enjoy it, the website is www.picnik.com!

posts

i have not really posted a whole lot lately, but we have been busy and we have not really been busy doing stuff that is blog worthy and i would like to think. it is all boring stuff. washing baby clothes, organizing the bedrooms, getting hospital bags ready. i joked with my sister in law that unless everyone wanted me to post a picture of me cleaning a bathroom or folding laundry i don't really have to much to say. 

i have had a couple of doctors appointments and ultrasounds. they all show that everything looks normal. the baby is looking like it might weigh about 7lbs right now. which i would LOVE!! however i have heard that before. i had an ultrasound with Briea on a Monday that they said she would barely weigh 7lbs, on Wednesday of that same week she was born at 9 lbs 3 1/2 oz. YA same thing with the boys, so we will just have to wait and see what next Thursday holds in store for us!

ps. i am really tired of being sick!!

naughty

ahh..she is so naughty. she loves to climb. she climbs on everything. some days i feel like i take her off of something only to turn around and pull her off of something else. she knew she was caught and that is why she would not even look at the camera. thank goodness she is cute. it is what saves her most days.

blankets.

this tradition started in our family because of a "friendly neighbor" that i had while pregnant with cullan. she was also pregnant and asked me  if i would be interested in making a blanket for him. i was all over the idea. i loved the thought of him having something i had made for him and it was fun to get to hang out with my friend while we worked on the blankets. 

so first came cullans.

 

I was so excited to wrap him up in this blanket. I have pictures of him in the hospital all cuddled up in his baby lamb blanket.

Then Kael's was next.

 

When I bought Kael's fabric I was not sure if we were having a boy or a girl. We had not had the ultrasound yet, however I love frogs. I used to collect them when I was younger and when I saw this I just feel in love. So I bought it and set it aside! Again my "friendly neighbor" and I worked on the blanket and she did the edging for me because I had no idea what I was doing!

next was Miss B's!

 it took me a while to decide what to do for her. i could not find anything that i was really falling in love with. i would go from fabric store to fabric store trying to find something that stuck out to me. finally I came across this and while it was not my dream fabric, i loved the idea of the soft pink on the blanket. it seemed so girly to me and since Briea was my first girl i decided it was going to work. it is hard to tell but it has patch work pink stars all over it. it is a sweet little pattern and I am glad that I went with it. (ps. by this time my "friendly neighbor" was not my neighbor anymore, so I had to drive out to their new house. it was totally worth it though. i always had fun hanging out working on this sort of thing)

Now for number 4!! 

this blanket, i went in a totally different direction. I looked through the baby section of fabric and saw nothing that i liked. since this baby is going to be a surprise i tried to pick something that could work either way. it is hard to see but this blanket has green, browns, orange, and two different shades of pink. the brown trim seems really dramatic in this picture for some reason.. maybe it is and it just looks different to me in real life.

i like that it is kind of funky and different. i am excited about putting our new little one it and wrapping them up. i was just telling garran today that once I get the blanket done, i know we are close. sadly i did not get to do this blanket with my friend. 3 out of 4 is not bad, but it would have been fun if we still lived closer to do this one together too! so now we just have to wait our 10 days, and we will have our new little babe to wrap up in it!!

this kid

this kid cracks me up. he makes all kinds of faces and is so dramatic sometimes. i asked him if i could his picture and this is what i got....not exactly a smile, but cute never the less!

cullans sweet card

this is probably the coolest card i have seen in a while. Garran's sister Britt sent it to Cullan for his birthday. i took a video because I thought it was so funny that Cullan had learned the words to the card and was lip syncing to it every time he opened it. i know i have said before how much the boys love getting mail, but this one was just so cute. sorry about briea's little head popping in and out. she wanted her picture taken...if you can't tell. ;0)

twins!

for about 2 1/2 weeks each year we have twins. "Irish twins" that is. for about 2 1/2  weeks the boys are the same age. seeing as they are only 11 months apart, it is kind of fun to document. i like to take a picture of them together sometime during the two weeks just for memories sake. here they are together, our two little four year olds. Cullan will be turning 5 on the 17th of this month. so we only have a little longer. 

i remember being blown away when we found out we were expecting kael. when i went to the doctor they told me my due date was October 9th (2006). my due date with cullan was October 10th (2005). We also found out one year and one day apart what the sex of each baby was. Very strange how they have always seemed kind of linked in one way or the other. We love them both and are enjoying our two weeks of having twins!!

every kid has one...

every kid has one of these. you know the i really want to do something and i am so mad that you will not let me do it move or dance. well during conference weekend we were just vegging around the house and garran got cullan to do his for the camera. when cullan is actually doing it, it drives me crazy. however, when he is actually doing it around garran, garran thinks it is so ridiculous that it is hilarious. so he always laughs and asks him to keep doing it. that only frustrates cullan and he will stop. so we thought we would share. here is cullan, doing his "but i really want to" dance!
sorry it turns side ways...i could not get that to work right.

steak and shake.

the boys got some surprise birthday money in the mail today from their great grandmother. we did not really have an idea what to do with it since Kael had already opened presents and Cullans birthday was not for a while, so we asked the boys what they would like to do. We had thought about taking them to go and see a movie but then the boys said they wanted to go out to eat. This is something that they RARELY get to do, so it was a real treat. We let them pick the place and everything. They had never been to steak and shake before, but that is where they wanted to go. They ended up loving it. I had not been there in years and so I was impressed with all the fun things they had for the kids. They got hats and these cars, plus coloring pages. The kids loved the cars!! They are still playing with them today.

 Here is Cullan sporting his cool hat!

 Briea enjoying some apple juice!

 Kael did not want to wear his hat at first, but then decided he want to put it on before we left. I had to snap a quick picture of him. 

they all behaved really well, which i was happy about. since we don't go out much, i worried about how things would go, but they did really well. the boys both ordered chicken, BIG SURPRISE. some days, i think these boys will turn into chicken. they LOVE IT!!

it was a fun night. we even surprised garran by picking him up from school to go! we had a lot of fun. Thanks Nanny for thinking of the boys and letting them have a fun evening out!

contractions.

i hate them. especially when they are not strong enough to send me into labor, but are coming all the time. ARRGGG!

glasses

she found some glasses. she was pretty proud of herself. she is also pretty dang cute!

general conference traditions

this weekend we did our usual general conference tradition. we always watch it at home and i make fun finger foods for everyone. i try and get everything ready before the first session on Saturday and then we just kind of munch on everything Saturday and Sunday. it is nice because i don't have to cook a bunch and it is fun for the kids. they call it our general conference party!

(this year Saturday conference fell on kaels birthday. when he came into the kitchen he said, mom you made all this food for me and my birthday....you are so sweet!)

so here was our menu.

(i don't know why i take pictures of everything. i guess just for memory sake)

cheese and crackers

veggie tray and ranch dip

we also had stuff to make little mini sandwiches.

this is the only picture i got of the little smokies...because

these two were waiting for them and i barely got them in the bowl!!

wings...as usual. kael loves chicken, but this might be the last year i do them. we need to switch things up a bit!

garran sampling some food. he is so funny. i just love him.

after we had all nibbled on some food and were watching the second session of conference we found briea like this. i guess she was just to tired to even make it upstairs!

today's sessions were great and we are excited for tomorrow. hope everyone else has a nice weekend. it is chilly here.. in the 50's so we are definitely starting to feel like fall is in full swing!

4 WHOLE YEARS!

 I can not believe that this kid is a whole four years old. his birthday is today, October 2nd, however we celebrated yesterday due to having a busy weekend with Conference and all.

 Kael was a very lucky boy and got to open presents from all of his family. I was so impressed with Cullan. Usually in the past we have done their birthday parties together because we lived  near family. this year we decided to do it separately because it was just going to be us. Cullan handled the fact that he had to wait so well. He even said he would be in charge of handing Kael his presents.

 Kael with some trains from Grandma Moe and Grandpa George!

 Kael with his scooby doo birthday card.

 Kael also got a computer and a Zhu Zhu pet from Grandpa Jeff and Grandma Pat. Ok on a side note. I had no real idea what Zhu Zhu pets were, only that the kids thought they were cool. They are! They hope around and make noises. I was pretty impressed. I thought it would just sit on the floor and squeak or something. But they are much cuter than that.

 sorry our table was a mess...like i said, crazy weekend coming up, we spent the rest of Saturday cleaning. that is also why kael got a pre-made cake from the store as opposed to one that I would make. I think he was ok with it though because he got to pick it out and it even came with that Thomas! Always a hit!!

 i just thought i would add this picture because it made me laugh. do you see how she is so cute but can be so naughty. she had already had one cupcake. then garran got my attention and i looked over at the table. her is briea helping herself to another cupcake all by herself. if this picture had sound, you would hear her grunting to reach it. she finally did and was very proud of herself. she is such a stinker!

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR SWEET KAEL!

we are so grateful that you were born four years ago and have loved having you as part of our family. you are such a sweet and funny boy. we are grateful for all the joy and laughter you bring to our lives.

karate

tonight it was my turn to take the boys to their karate class. garran and I switch off so that we can each get some time with the boys and so we can each watch their progress. i decided to take my little camera so that I could get some video of the boys doing there karate. they really enjoy it. they are the youngest in the class, or i guess i should say in the youngest age group. the class spans from age 4-7. i am hoping they will want to do it again in the future. there are things i really like about them taking this class. 

for one, the man that teaches is a police officer, so he asks that the children say "yes sir" when they respond to him. i like that. growing up in the south, i have not problem with my children saying yes sir and yes ma'am. it does not go over so well in the Midwest, so we don't really push it, but i still like it. 

the other thing that i really like is that he teaches the kids things that have to do with karate but that would also help them if a stranger ever tried to take them. the second video is a good example. they are teaching the kids to put their hands in the "crane" position and to hit the dummy in the eyes and yell "NO NO NO" and then run to the back of the line or to run away! the other thing they did tonight was held the kids wrist and showed them how to hit the persons hand in away that would really hurt and to yell "get away from me!". my boys were told they did not hit hard enough, but i think they were a little confused. we have taught them to not hit, especially an adult. so when their instructor said hit me (or his hands) the boys kept looking over at me like ..... "uh, what do i do ?" finally cullan gave into temptation and really whacked the guys hand. i gave him a thumbs up so that he would know that he was not in trouble. i think he felt better after that ;0)

the card

today when we got home from running some errands, kael had a birthday card from Aunt Britt and Uncle Dennis. It was so cute. He has already memorized the little song it sings and he will not let Cullan or Briea hold it. i figure it is his birthday card, so he should not have to share all the time, right?? Anyways, this video does not show him kissing the card or saying how sweet it was of them to send it. he did want to make a video of him saying thank you to them for sending it to him.

sassy

ok, so this might be kind of mean, but i think it is so funny. if you follow our blog, you know the boys are just enamored with the little girl next door.... Joanna! However, she is so sassy. I am always surprised that the boys want to play with her so much. She is not mean to them, but she definitely knows what she wants them to do and voices her opinion on the matter. today i was sitting at the computer while they were playing on the back patio. I could not help my self. Joanna wanted to trace Kael with chalk, however Kael would not lay just right. So i shot this little video. It just cracks me up. Kael is a little bit more stubborn and will not give in as readily as Cullan, but he still tries to make her happy. Garran likes to tease me and say they are already hanging out with girls like their mom. He likes to say that I know how I want things to be done!! We always get a good laugh. ;0)

old projects

ok. so this chair was my moms when she was little. then it was passed down to me. now, when B gets older it will be hers. however it needed a little work. so garran has decided it will be a little extra thing he will work on. he took it into the studio and ran it through the sand blaster to take off any extra stuff and this is what it looked like.

 then he did the first coat of paint. however there were some drips and small imperfections and so he sanded parts of the chair down again and is going to do another layer of paint.

after this we have plans to do some painting on it and adding of all of our initials. i am excited to see it when it is all done. i will post pictures later of the finished project. right now it is still waiting on the second coat of paint!

memories

this is a flash back for me. she feel asleep like this yesterday. it reminded me of when she was just a little one and used to sleep like this all the time.

little ninja

the other day we were trying on different Halloween costumes. this one was to small for the boys but it worked out just fine for Briea. she wore it most of the day. she was so cute walking around in her little ninja costume!!

the library

today we took the kids to the library. we really needed to get out of the house. the kids have been really patient with me being sick and having to just hang out at the house. so today we tried to have some fun. our library has a huge toy collection as well as book selection for kids. the kids always get so excited when they get to play with all the toys. it is a nice place to take them for a change of pace.

 Cullan playing with the Woody doll.

 Cullan taking a very important call.

 Daddy reading a story.

 They have a huge baby doll collection which makes Briea super happy! she took all the dolls out and was carrying them around, squealing all the way.

of course puzzles are a must too!! 

i was so happy that the kids got to get out today and have some fun!